Health & Medicine
Through the study and use of genetics, we can identify measures that could lead to the improvement of human health and wellness. These methods and procedures aim to prevent years of chronic disease and thousands of dollars in health care costs, and provide families and communities with knowledge of how to live healthier.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Summer is coming: Just how much sun can your DNA take before being damaged?
We're entering sunscreen season, which means 'high alert' for sun-related skin damage. How does our DNA impact our susceptibility? ...
Biohacker explains ‘everyday methods’ to get the most out of your body
To get a better handle on biohacking, we consulted Luke Storey, a Los Angeles-based biohacker with a refreshingly grounded and holistic ...
A matter of trust: Why anti-vaxxers are wary of Big Pharma
Vaccine opponents often share a conviction that the health care system is more interested in profits and power than helping ...
Unintended benefits of ‘the pill’: Fewer mood swings and better relationships?
I was intrigued to learn that taking birth control pills could reduce period-related mood swings and that it had other beneficial effects ...
Attracted to men and women? Our sexual orientation can undergo ‘extensive’ changes as we age, and more so in women, study says
The vocabulary we currently use to describe sexual orientation is hopelessly inadequate, with labels like 'gay', 'straight' and 'bi' falling ...
Viewpoint: What defines a female athlete? Law professor, former runner’s case for why Caster Semenya’s testosterone levels critical in determining if she should compete with women
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that intersex athletes must reduce their testosterone to within accepted female levels ...
Golden Rice, Part 1: The story of a GMO crop that could benefit billions of children a year
For billions of people, the stakes could not be higher ...
Caster Semenya testosterone ruling to be appealed by South African government
South Africa’s track federation will appeal against the recent Caster Semenya ruling, the country’s sports ministry has confirmed. The government ...
Space station experiment testing ‘nano antioxidants’ that could fight age-related diseases
An upcoming experiment aboard the International Space Station will test the effects of microgravity on living cells mixed with tiny ...
Video: What does it mean to ‘turn on’ a gene?
In the murky darkness, blue and green blobs are dancing. Sometimes they keep decorous distances from each other, but other ...
Worried about low T? Treatments may be a costly placebo—and could even hurt you
Testosterone therapy does little to counter the effects of aging. But it does have the potential to be harmful for ...
How a genetically modified virus saved this teenager’s life
In October 2017, Graham Hatfull received an urgent email from across the pond. A microbiologist colleague ... was desperately looking ...
‘An insurance policy for the future’: Why some healthy young men are freezing their sperm
Gilbert Sanchez froze his sperm in January [2019], shortly before his 25th birthday. He was healthy and at low-risk for ...
Searching for the origins of male aggression: Nature, nurture or both?
Most men are not especially violent, but most people who are especially violent are men. … Now, there’s no real doubt that ...
Dissecting the cannabis genome in the quest for a better bud and effective medicines
Cannabis cultivators have little firm knowledge about the genetics of the plant. Researchers hope to change that ...
We’re on the verge of wiping out 1 million species. And that could hurt our own survival chances, UN report says
Up to 1 million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, with alarming implications for human survival, ...
Are we about to raise the cap on human life expectancy?
Ray Kurzweil, Google’s chief futurist, says that if you can just hang on until 2029, medical advances will start to ...
Video: John Innes Centre battles nutrient deficiency with iron-fortified biotech wheat
Iron is an important micro-nutrient, boosting haemoglobin levels in the blood. Many populations and particularly women and children are currently ...
Weak links? How partial DNA matches can muddle criminal investigations
Using DNA collected from a crime scene, police can identify relatives of unidentified suspects through partial, or familial, matches. Legal ...
Searching for a ‘fountain of youth’ in our genes
Explorers have dreamt for centuries of a Fountain of Youth, with healing waters that rejuvenate the old and extend life ...
Viewpoint: Caster Semenya ruling demonstrates our ‘myopic’ view of athletes and gender
In the intricate and emotional case of Caster Semenya, there is no such thing as fair. Her situation vexes traditional ...
Omega-3 oil from GMO plants equivalent to fish oil, human clinical study shows
Research .... has shown that key omega-3 fatty acids within GM plant oils are taken up and processed by the ...
Why loss of sleep is ‘having a catastrophic impact on our health’
According to neuroscientist Matthew Walker, I'm doing serious damage to my health—and life—by not sleeping enough. "The decimation of sleep ...
Viewpoint: Male birth control pills won’t make much difference if men aren’t eager to use them
It’s not enough to simply invent male contraception and bring it to market; we have to be in a place ...
Viewpoint: GMO crops could reduce, even eliminate, dangerous allergens in common foods
My brother was in his mid-20s when he developed a food allergy....[H]e discovered that his unpleasant side effects occurred whenever ...
Making the case for lifting the US ban on 3-parent babies
A Greek woman with a history of multiple in vitro fertilization failures gave birth to a healthy baby with DNA ...
‘Crisis-level precautions’: How hospitals fight new era of superbugs
[Superbug Candida auris can] survive for weeks outside a patient—on sinks and mattresses, door knobs and bedside tables. To eradicate ...
